AAP insincere about Punjab waters, says Congress leader Bajwa

Chandigarh, Nov 1 (IANS) Terming the debate called by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann a ‘maha drama’, Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa on Wednesday said the Aam Aadmi Party government once again demonstrated its insincerity over the loot of the state's river waters.

Bajwa said a night before the debate the CM through his X post changed the topic of the debate from the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal to four issues, comprising drug abuse, growing gangsterism and unemployment.

The SYL issue was nowhere in that X post, which wasn't at all justified.

“It is highly deplorable that the Punjab CM, who considers himself a flag bearer of the Punjabi language wrote his X post in Hindi language. Would he mind explaining to whom he wanted to convey the message in the Hindi language? With X post in Hindi, the CM wanted to tell the people of Haryana that AAP Punjab is not interested in discussing the SYL issue at all,” the Congress leader said.

He also rebuked the CM for squandering Rs 30 crore of Punjab's taxpayers on the fake publicity of this ‘maha-drama’.

Bajwa said the CM had already prepared fake publicity material, which would be run on several social media and TV news channels.

“In Haryana, all parties have been united to grab the river waters from Punjab through the SYL canal, whereas Punjab's arrogant CM has been intoxicated with power and has completely disregarded the opposition parties,” he added.

He said each MLA belonging to the Aam Aadmi Party was given 50 passes to take their people to the debate hall, whereas the Opposition parties were deprived of this facility.

They wanted their people to enter the debate hall only. As many as 1,200 people belonging to the ruling party were given entry to the debate hall at 9 in the morning.